


My Wings Of Freedom

by CrustyBaguette



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, High School, M/M, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein-centric, Multi, Texas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 17:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20660726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrustyBaguette/pseuds/CrustyBaguette
Summary: I wrote this fanfic in 2017 (I was in 7th grade) for an assignment in LA about a hero's journey. I forgot about it until this morning, when I found it and read it quickly. I decided to share it with yall. It is completely unedited and contains a few grammar and spelling mistakes, but I am still impressed by my middle school self. I hope you enjoy :) (and if people like this I may start a new series where I add on to this and finish the story.)What it's about: Jean is a snarky highschool student who just feels like he's missing something in life, with his absent parents and not very reliable friends. He meets a smiling boy who gives him the opportunity and teenage years he has been missing. Also he lives in Texas because I was rly into voltron and Keith at the time and my friend from Texas kept telling me about all the cool stuff there.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You can point out like 10 of my insecurities in the first chapter.
> 
> Have fun! :)

Walking to the school bus alone in the morning can be depressing. It was freezing cold, and it was six thirty ante meridiem. The sky was still dark, but a tiny hint of annoying sunlight could be seen. The dry air was filled with dust, coating your eyelashes and getting caught in your nose. I had really bad allergies, so I couldn’t take a breath without sneezing. It was fall, but the summer was still holding us in it’s fiery grip. A few weeks into September, all the trees had been shedding. Leaves filled the gutters and were swept up with the dust in the gusty wind. However, the trees were still covered in leaves, despite the blanketing of the land in rotting corpses of the tree’s skin.   
I looked up to see the bus stop, and three of my friends approaching fast from the right.  
Unfortunately for me, my friends walking to the curb spotted me before I saw them.   
“Hey, Horse Face!” Shouted Eren as he started to run towards me on the other end of the street, waving frantically. As usual, he looked like he had just rolled out of a compost pile. His chocolate brown hair was wild, and his clothes were rumpled and looked like they had been thrown on without care. Dazzling blue-green eyes were mischievous, looking like they had just found his prey. Eren was always picking on me, and I found it quite annoying.   
“Hey, Jaeger, did you get dressed in the dark?” I sneered back as he, bouncing on his heels. approached me  
“Hey Eren, that’s really rude,” chided Armin, the small blonde struggling to catch up with Eren’s pace. Armin, with his chin length blonde hair and round face, looked like a small, blonde coconut. He was desperately clutching onto a large assortment of books, no doubt holding Eren’s as well. He hurriedly pushed his glasses further up his round, button nose, adjusting his books as well.   
“Jean’s our friend to, you know.”  
“Hey, it’s pronounced John,” I defended. Eren smiled at me, sending an uneasy feeling shooting down my spine.  
“Ok, jeeeeeeen,” He smirked, finding joy in the way I frowned. I swiped at him, and he gleefully yelped as he jumped back happily. Our quarrel was interrupted by a soft voice appearing from behind Eren.  
“Eren, we really shouldn’t be this far away from the bus stop, the bus could come soon and we could miss it. Also, where is your hat? You’re going to catch a cold. Eren, why is your hair so tangled? I told you to brush it before we left the house-”   
“Mikasa, you’re not my mom,” Eren replied sheepishly, an embarrassed blush covering his face as he looked down. Mikasa was Eren’s younger sister, and I had had a crush on her for as long as I could remember. It was hard not to, with her once long, silky, elegant black hair, now hanging just above her shoulders at Eren’s suggestion, her pale, perfect skin, her dark, almond-shaped eyes, and the red scarf around her neck she was never without. She was perfect in school, too, with her good grades, calm personality, and striking demeanor. I’m not even sure she and Eren are related, with his tanned, olive skin, and elfish face. Also, her last name was Ackermann, and Eren’s was Jaeger, so that was kind of strange.  
I blushed too, seeing Mikasa so close. Eren let out a growl and kicked me in the shin. He had known about my crush, and just as Mikasa babied him, he was also very protective of her.   
“Keep your eyes off my sister,” Eren whispered, his voice low, as he tilted his head away from his sibling.   
“Woah, dude, back off,” I said, trying to project an aura of non-threatniness around myself to protect me from further harm. My eyes were comically wide and I put my hands up in the space between us, trying to further the illusion. I pride myself on my acting skills. Gets me out of a lot of trouble.   
As a cold wind gusted leaves into our faces, we noticed the top of the bus passing over the fences of the nearby houses, but barely, as the trees were creating an effective wall. Sand, too, was thrusted into our eyes by the wind. It can sure be annoying living in Texas.   
As the bus rounded the bend, we sprinted back to the curb, mumbled curses undertones of the crunch of leaves that our heavy boots made. Armin was still holding onto his books for dear life, his glasses almost falling off his face, as numerous papers escaped into the street, but he was too busy running to pick them up. Mikasa, being the superhero that she is, made it to the bus first. Me and Eren came second, panting hard. Armin had gone back to pick up his papers.  
“Why….” Eren managed to pant out, his hands on his knees, back hunched over to get his breath back. He turned his head, saw Armin, and went back to help him, though rather slowly. It was only me, gripping onto the stop sign pole to keep my balance, and Mikasa, who, miraculously, was not fazed a bit, and was boredly staring at Eren. The bus was waiting patiently, and we waited as Armin and Eren walked back, both holding a jumble of papers and assorted books. It looked like Armin’s binder had been dropped and thus exploded, for neatly written notes were poking at all angles out of their arms. Some were bent, and some were most likely still behind us. I felt bad for Armin, most of our classes were pretty hard, and he was a very vigilant note taker.  
“Hey, do you need to have some of my notes? We have Chem together, right?” I suggested, passing the bus driver and heading walking down the aisle. Mikasa was right in front of me, so hopefully I would get to sit next to her.  
“No, I can copy Mikasa's,” Armin responded rather quickly. I nodded and turned my attention to the task of navigating the seats without hitting anyone with my backpack. Unfortunately for me, Eren could sense what I was doing, so he quickly passed me to sit with his sister in the back. Turning to face Armin, I reached out to take his books from him. On the way to school, I helped him sort out to see what notes he had and what ones he had to make up. I hate Texas.


	2. Chapter 2

Not much happens during the school day. It has already been a week since the start of school, and absolutely nothing interesting has happened. As I get off the bus with Armin, who is looking very disappointed with the amount of work he has to make up, I see some more of my friends. Quickly walking to homeroom to avoid having to make human contact with anybody, I trip and fall. My armful of school supplies fall on the ground, and scatter to the four corners. Whyyyyyy does this happen to me? I am like the unluckiest person in the world. It’s like i’m cursed or something. Everyone in the hallway stops and kind of stands there, looking at it, kind of making a face like they want to help, and then awkwardly moves away. Some stop and pick them up. A boy with a shaggy undercut stops and picks up the last remaining pieces of paper. He hands them to me with a smile, showing off white, rounded teeth under a face full of freckles. Like seriously, they were everywhere. They trailed down his neck, and his arms were covered in them.  
What was his problem? I scoff. This is high school. Nobody smiles at High School. This place is like a freaking slave labor camp for kids. But I just incline my head slightly in gratitude. He leaves and I get up to continue walking to class. Instead, I bump into my friend, Connie.  
“Hey Horse Face, Where are you going?”  
Ok, to be honest, I don’t look like a horse. Ok, maybe I do have a long, skinny face, and my nose is kind of long, and i’m really boney, and my two-toned brown and slightly lighter brown undercut looks like a mane, and my eyes are pretty small and harsh… Ok, I look like a horse.  
“Going to class, what about you, you bald leprechaun?” Connie has a closely shaved head, and is really short. Everyone makes fun about it, but he’s pretty chill. He also has the coolest girlfriend, Sasha. She is really nice, and she’s just like ‘one of the guys’. The only thing is if you give her any food or bring any, then, well, you don’t have any anymore. We call her Potato Girl because of an incident in gym class once that I am not going to mention.  
“Same, dude. But hey, what do you say you skip class today and come to the mall with me and Annie? The new game store just opened up, and I’ve always wanted to check out the new food court. Oh, Bertholdt and Reiner will be there two, you know. Wherever Annie goes, so do they.”  
“Aww man, I would love too today, but last time my parents found out, and they totally blew their cool. Maybe next time?” I groan.  
“Come on, you can’t let your parents say what you can or can’t do! No one will know if you’re sneaky enough! Besides, you’ve got some wicked mad acting skills, you can get out of anything!”  
He had a point. But unfortunately, before I could make a decision, Mikasa came out of the blue and grabbed my arm, directing me towards the Social Studies classroom.  
“What……..” I start to say, then stop. I look down at my arm, and realize…. Oh my gosh, this is Mikasa. And she’s holding my arm. That’s my arm. Mikasa. She’s touching my arm. She’s holding my arm, and she’s directing me somewhere. Mikasa. Oh my god, what do I do? Oh my gosh can she see how red my face is turning? Oh my, what do I do now? What is…….  
I am violently thrown out of my thoughts by a sarcastic voice.  
“Sorry, you’ll please have to excuse him for a moment, but Jeans’s brain is currently unavailable at the moment, please try again later,” drawles a lazy voice from inside the room. I look up and see Levi Rivaille Ackermann, no relation to Mikasa Ackermann, standing in the doorway. The whole class laughs, And I feel a sudden pit instantly appear in my chest that is not uncommon to get when you’ve just been roasted by your teacher in front of your whole class.  
Mikasa dragged me in, thrusting me towards Eren’s direction. I struggled to regain my footing, and I grabbed my arm, my face blushing loudly.  
“Here he is, Eren. Just like you told me to.” Mikasa stated. Eren had an oversized smile across his face, and I did not like the look on his face, like he had just won a huge prize.  
“Ha ha, Jean. I knew you would try to come with Connie, so I told Mikasa to get you for me. If I have to sit in these classes and be miserable all day, so do you.”  
“If you wouldn’t mind taking a seat, Kirstein, I would love to actually get to teaching this class in the next week, thank you,” Interrupted Professor Ackermann, sarcastic as always. I half nodded and went to sit at my seat in the back, coincidentally next to Eren. I think Levi knows we don’t get along together, and that’s why we’re always partnered up together.  
“Alright class, if we can move past that incredibly rude interruption, we can get started right away. Now, I’m sure all of you are well aware that our assessment for this quarter is due soon,” He started. The whole entire class groaned loudly.


	3. Chapter 3

When my first three periods were over, which were mostly filled with staring at the clock and thinking about Mikasa (Eren could totally tell, he kept shooting me dirty looks), it was time for lunch. I headed over to our lunch table. As expected, Connie was not there, nor were Annie, Bert and Reiner, but Sasha was at the table, eating enough to feed a whole army. I am honestly astounded by her ability to stay so thin while eating so much. She smiled when she saw me and started to wave energetically, her high red ponytail bouncing around. I meekly walked over to see her, and smiled as Armin walked up, carrying a whole quarter’s worth of work in his arms, chewing on a pencil.  
“I forgot, you’re taking all AP classes this year, right?” I asked, impressed by his ability to actually learn things in class.   
“Yup, and I got a three whole entire math quizzes to do by Wednesday, and I have to study for a Geography test on Monday, plus a whole lot more stuff I got to do that I won’t bother you with,” He answered, spreading his work on the table to start on it.  
I make a hissing sound with my teeth. “Hey, Armin, I know you got a lot of work to do, with your AP classes and such, but I was wondering if maybe, you see, I kinda got this thing…”  
“Do your own work Jean, I’m not doing it for you,” scowled Armin.  
“Worth a try,” I mutter under my breath. I look up and see Eren and Mikasa approach. I wave my arms, trying to get their attention. They spot me and come over to our table, but before I can talk to them, Sasha started to run her fat mouth off.  
“Hey, guess what, Jean asked Armin to do his homework again, also, he never mentioned it or anything, but I think that’s it’s safe to say that he’s planning on asking Mikasa to prom, so like, Eren, you better keep an eye on him, mister. Also, why didn’t Connie invite me to the mall today? I’m, like, his girlfriend! I mean, I only bought, like, twenty things with his money last time….”   
“Sasha!” I frowned, indignant. Armin and Eren giggled a little, and it was a terrifying sight, and I hope I never have to see them giggle like little girls ever again.   
“Yeah, Eren keep an eye on Jean, he might forget how to talk with all that stuttering he’s been doing,” snickered Armin.   
“Hey, rude! I do not……” I stopped, mouth wide as Mikasa reached over and touched my arm. My mind went completely blank. Mikasa withdrew her hand with a grin.   
“Jean, you better close your mouth, or you might catch flies,” She said with a cocked eyebrow.  
“H-Hey! No fair! You did that on purpose!” Eren and Armin and Sasha were clutching their sides and bending over, their faces twisted from lack of breath. Their howling laughter was to be expected, though, for my friends were the evilest people I know. If Connie had been here, I would never hear the end of this. Even Mikasa, a smug smile on her face instead of the usual blank, bored expression, looked very happy to see my reaction.  
“You were saying, Jean?” Eren said, finally recovering his breath enough to talk. He fake-wiped a tear from his eye, attempting to make me feel even worse, and it was working.  
“Aww, Mikasa, you got him good!” Sasha praised, reaching over to give her an affectionate punch. “To bad he will never have the courage to actually ask you out!”  
“Hey!” I replied hastily. “I’m confident enough, I just…..don’t want to.”  
“Ha! Jean’s in the friendzone!” Eren chuckled.  
“RIP any chance Jean had with Mikasa, RIP,” Sasha faked crying. “All those chances he had, out the window.”  
“You know, he never had a chance from the start, like I would date him,” Mikasa answered.  
“I can hear you, you know! And I take that to be very offensive, Mikasa. Tread lightly, do you even know who you’re talking to?”  
“Well, I would date Jean,” Sasha said smoothly.  
“But Sasha, aren’t you dating Connie?” Eren asked.  
“Yeah, so you can see how messed up my taste in men is!” She said sarcastically. They all erupted into laughter. I shook my head in amusement. I can’t believe i’m even friends with these people


	4. Chapter 4

In Chemistry, me and Armin were attempting a very dangerous experiment that would cost us half our grade. Armin had to attempt this without his glasses, for they were too big under the safety glasses, so I had to mainly do all the work, for he was nearly blind without those things, so that was pretty hard. It didn’t help that our psycho science teacher, Professor Zoë, or as she wanted us to call her, Hanji, was walking around with her pet rats, monitoring our every move. She was obsessed with them. To be honest, they creeped me out. Their names were Sawney and Bean, after the famous cannibal in scotland. Yeah. They were terrifying. So was Hanji. But she was nice, and she seemed to like me quite a lot, so that made it better. I almost never got a low grade in her class. Armin and I were currently trying a mix of ammonium sulfate and cobalt (III) nitride, trying to see what that would do. We were supposed to record the reactions to prove that we could use what we learned in class, or something. Armin was carrying over some beakers with some more substances we could use, but on the way, he tripped and lost control, and they crashed on the floor, causing some people to shriek. It was a good thing this was one of the biggest classes at this school, or everyone would have rushed over immediately to see what had happened. Armin kind of lay there, staring at the mess he had made, and I cringed, hissing slowly.  
“Oooh, that’s not good,” I said slowly, my hands clutched to my face. Hanji came over to us, shouting to the whole class to stay back.  
“Stay back everyone! Nothing to see here!” She helped Armin up. “As you can see here, class, this is why we wear safety goggles! Now, this is a perfect time to elaborate on the importance of safety in this classroom, and why you should be careful! This is why my glasses also double as safety goggles! Never know when you will need them…” She dumped Sawney and Bean in my hands. “Here, hold these,” She told me while she kept on giving directions. “Hey! Hannah! Would you be a dear and grab those paper towels? Yes, those ones… Yes! Give them to me….” She continued, without missing a beat.  
“I’m sorry,” Armin sheepishly whispered to me, looking down and clutching his arm.  
“No, man, it’s ok, the question is, what am I gonna do with these? I asked, disgusted, as I held the two rats out with my arms, as far away from my face as possible. Armin snickered good-naturedly.  
“Yeah, I wonder If she knows you hate those rats,”  
“I don’t hate them I just think that they’re creepy and terrifying and I never want to be near them ever again.”  
Armin laughed again. “Hey, If you wanted me too, I could take those from you,”  
“Please do,” I said, scrunching up my nose as I passed them to him.  
“I think they’re cute,” Armin said, cradling them in his arms.  
“Ugh, I could never. The tails gross me out, and their fur, it’s just the weirdest shade of cream…”  
“Well, say whatcha want, but I think we should start working on that worksheet, if we want any credit,”  
“Yeah, you’re right. But first, be honest… Do I even have a chance with Mikasa? I mean…”  
“Ok, I normally would never say this, but into Connie’s words, ‘Dude, no. She is way out of your league, brah. Try someone else, like Annie.’ But in my own words, you never know. People can change. But you must remember something; no matter how hard you try, you cannot change someone. There is, however, one person who you can change: yourself.”  
“Thanks, man. Guess you’re not just good at math, but at relationships, too.”  
“Ha ha, I wish. You’re welcome. What would you do without me?”  
“Crash and burn, brother, crash and burn.”


	5. Chapter 5

“What do you mean, Armin’s not here?”  
“He’s not here, dude, he’s sick.”  
“But we have an important assignment to do today!”  
“Sucks to be you.”  
“Ugh, you’re not helping at all!”  
Me and Eren were walking together to second period, Language Arts. I had just barely survived a brutal Social Studies class, with Eren laughing maniacally the whole time at my failures. I was pretty salty, to say the least. Now, Armin was sick, and I had to do all the work myself! Now, I had already pretty much been doing all the work anyway, but at least Hanji might give me extra credit for working alone, so that was a plus.   
“Hey, Armin asked me to get some of his work for him while he was sick, so can you pick up some for me?”  
“Sure. Lucky guy, he’s never gone, his teachers will all give him a break.”  
“Yeah, but his is taking all AP classes, and plus, you skip class all the time! Of course your teachers give you a hard time!”  
“Yeah, but still….”  
“Jean, let me tell you, you could win an award in complaining!”  
“And lying,” I added with a grin.   
“Yup! Man, you can just wrap people around your finger! Like Hanji, she totally thinks you’re a great kid!”  
“Yeah, you’re right. She’s so gullible!”  
“Who’s gullible?”  
Our conversation was ended by the question from Mrs. Petra Ral, our L.A. teacher. She was married to Mr. Ackermann, which is a big surprise, because Levi is the meanest teacher we have, and Mrs. Ral is the complete opposite of mean. She lets us sit next to our friends, she always warns us when we have tests coming up, and makes sure we have all the study materials. She was perfect to take advantage of.  
“Um, no one, Mrs Ral. We were just talking about some friends of ours, and um…” I stammered. I can’t really talk around girls, even if they’re my teacher, except for Hanji and Sasha, who I am totally cool around.  
“Ok, boys, if you say so,” She responded with a wink as we entered her classroom.  
“Dang, Jean,” said Eren, elbowing my side. “You can’t even talk to your teacher! At this rate, you’ll never get a girlfriend, let alone Mikasa!”  
“Shut up,” I mumbled, turning away from him and blushing. “You don’t know that.”  
“Well, I do know that if you can’t talk around your teacher, no girl will go for you.”  
“Hey, it wasn’t that bad!”  
“Dude, your face turned bright red, and you started stammering.”  
“Hey, that’s not true….” My train of thought disappeared as Connie walked in, grinning. No one was giving him weird stares, so I assumed that no one noticed he was gone yesterday.  
“Hey Connie, how was yesterday?” I called out across the class, taking a seat. I watched as he came over to my seat, smiling nonchalant to the other kids like everything was normal. But as he approached, I noticed that his smile was forced, and his eyes looked worried, and he looked as if he hadn’t slept.   
“Shhhhh!” He whispered urgently at my desk, all signs of calm completely erased from his face. He put his hands on my desk and leaned in close to me. “You can’t just say that! People will notice!” He looked so scared, I was worried.   
“What happened yesterday?” I asked quickly, looking around to make sure that no one was close enough to hear us. I leaned my ear towards Connie as he hurriedly started to explain.  
“Dude, so I was at the mall yesterday, just minding my own buisness, Annie and the others were at some other store, and I was just milling around, when I heard some of the staff there whispering about some teenagers who had been shoplifting, and that one of them had actually attacked someone there, and so I was kinda worried, but then the workers started giving me weird looks, and the next thing I knew, the police were there! They started asking some people there, and a few of the pointed at me, I didn’t know what was going on! I just barely made it out…”  
“Connie, would you please stop visiting with your friend and go to your seat?” Mrs. Ral’s voice cut through the air, sounding a bit irritated. I looked up at the clock and saw that class had started ten minutes ago. Right before leaving, Connie turned towards me, his eyes wide, and he mouths: ‘Talk to you later’. I nod swiftly before turning my attention to the teacher, who is looking like she was trying very hard to stay happy and not kill someone.  
At lunch, I was sitting with my friends, listening to Connie tell us his story with every little detail. The main gist of it was that some cops had thought that Connie was with the other teenagers and tried to approach him, but Connie managed to run away, and now he was worried he had looked guilty and the cops were after him. He was pretty freaked out, but I didn’t think that he was in too much trouble, but if it had been me, I’m sure it would have scared the life out of me, as well.  
“So,” Connie said dramatically, finishing up his story, “If I get arrested and go to prison, you guys have to come break me out, ok?”  
“Ha ha, Connie. What if you actually do something and get arrested for it, but use thing as your cover story? I wouldn’t put it past you not to,” Laughed Eren.  
“Ha, yeah. Remember that one time…” teased Sasha.  
“Hey!” Connie said, appalled. “You weren’t supposed to tell them that one!” He told her, looking serious.  
“We all know you would do anything, Connie, now let’s hear that story,” Reiner said, looking interested, putting his arms on the table to rest his chin as he leaned in closer to hear better.  
“H-hey! Don’t ask that, Reiner! Connie quite obviously doesn’t want to talk about it, s-so we should just leave him alone, besides…” stammered Bertolt, sitting right next to Reiner. He and Reiner had been best bros since, like, second grade. They both came from somewhere out of town, and had been neighbors before they moved here as well as having parents who were really close. I was kinda jealous of them, for they had each other, and they seemed to know each other so well. I didn’t really have any friends that I kinda clicked with, if you understand what I’m getting at. Sure, Armin and Mikasa and Eren and Annie and so on were my friends, but even they seemed disconnected from me. Eren, Mikasa and Armin were inseparable, Sasha and Connie had been best friends long before dating, and Annie, Bert and Reiner were all from the same town. Annie was closer to Bertolt and Reiner than she was to us, but even she seemed a little bit lonely, too. Annie was scary. I couldn’t talk to her, but not like it was with other girls. It wasn’t that I was crushing on her too hard to talk to her without getting nervous, but nobody could say she was unattractive. She was just… scary. That was the only way to put it. I had seen her take down whole gangs without breaking a sweat or losing her cool. She was quiet and always looked bored, but not in the same way Mikasa was. Mikasa was calm and cool and disconnected. But it was to keep an eye on Eren. See, she always did things for Eren’s benefit, so the reason she was calm and cool was because she felt she had a purpose, a duty to Eren. And you could see it in her eyes, even when her face was blank, because that was why she did it. That was the best way to help Eren. She kept her face bored to look out for Eren. you could see her loyalty in every small thing she did, and that loyalty was genuine, and it was what made her feel so real, like she wasn’t faking anything. But Annie was emotionless. Everything she did was for her own good. She hardly cared for any other person, and I felt scared around her, like if she wanted to attack all of us, she would, and she could, and she would feel no remorse, and I doubt she would really feel anything at all.  
As Sasha started on her story of how Connie had egged someone’s house and gotten caught by the police, I found myself not really listening to her story. I was thinking of other things, like if I would ever find a friend that clicked, and if I would even know what to do when it happened.


	6. Chapter 6

When seventh period Chemistry rolled around, I was nervous. Armin wasn’t there, and he had been holding all the notes for me, so I was utterly lost. When Hanji was setting everything up, I was standing next to our table, with all our experiments on it. I tried to catch her attention, to find out what I was supposed to be doing.  
“Umm…. Hanji?”   
“Not right now, Jean, I’m helping these people.”  
“But Hanji, it’s kinda important…”  
*Sighs* “Ahh, what is it Jean? Please keep it brief, I’m trying to do something…”  
“Well…. Umm, you see…”  
“Spit it out, boy! We haven’t got all week!”  
Well, you see, Armin, my partner, isn’t here right now, so…”  
“That’s it? Well, just remind me when I’m not busy, and I’ll find you something.”  
“Thank you, Miss…” I ended as she moved away, helping some other students. I moved back to my seat and awkwardly sat there for ten minutes as she gave us instructions. When it was over, I went to the front of the room warily, trying to catch her before she started helping someone.  
“Um… Hanji.. What about my partner?” she turned around, surprised, and then nodded when she saw me.  
“Uhh… right. You need a partner! Well, lets see… What about Marco over there? His partner, Thomas, is gone today too. Well, there we go! I think you know Marco, he’s been here for several years.” She pointed to the far end of the room, where Marco was standing awkwardly. He spotted her waving and smiled at her and me so I could see what direction he was in. I nodded and started weaving through all the chairs and students. Something was bugging me about Marco until I realized…  
Great. Just great. Marco was the one who had picked up my books on Monday, of course. Now I had to spend the rest of class with Mr. Teletubbies sunshine rainbows. This would be so boring, I could guarantee it.   
“Hey! Jean’s your name, right? I think we have math together. With Mr. Smith, right?” Marco said with another one of his award-winning smiles. He stuck out his hand in an attempt to shake mine, but I just stared at it. There was no way I was gonna let him think that I was his friend or anything. He looked down and saw that I wasn’t taking his hand, so he put it back down awkwardly, looking very nervous.  
So he was nervous. Good. A small grin formed at the corner of my lips, if we had to be working together, at least he would be scared of me, which would come in handy. It is always easier to get someone else to do your work for you when you have some amount of fear planted in their minds.   
“So,” Marco started, looking away from my face, sweat beading on his forehead. I nodded, and we got to work. Well, it was mainly was Marco, while I sat on the table, being supervising his work and nodding when he said something. I could tell he was annoyed by my work ethic. But I have to say he handled it very well. I noticed him staring at me when he thought I wasn’t looking, and then turn away quickly when I turned towards him. Huh. Maybe there was, like, some cute chick behind me that he didn’t want me to notice. I looked behind me to see Franz and Hannah being total lovebirds behind me. They had been together since, like, sixth grade. Marco couldn’t possibly have a thing for Hannah, could he? Everybody, even the teachers, knew she was taken. Weird.   
I was getting by on the bare minimum with Marco doing all the work, when class ended. No one was close to finishing, so we were most likely going to have to work tomorrow as well. Hopefully Armin would be there. While we were packing up, I decided to play a fun game with Marco. I walked up to him while he was putting his bag away. He looked up at me, and I could see how nervous he was as he grasped his binder strap tightly. As I looked him in the eyes, I could see that his gaze was wavering. I put hand on my head and leaned back, trying to intimidate his as well as possible. From the way he looked, it was working.  
“So,” I said in a bored, uninterested voice, “Are we going to work together tomorrow, or do you think Armin and Thomas will be back?” I stood there, searching his eyes to see what my effect was on him, and noticed him staring at my mouth. He was biting his lip rather strangely, and looked like he was deep in thought. I snapped my fingers to wake him up, and he jolted up, looking at me with shock.  
“Hmm?” I reminded him, looking down with an overly dramatic questioning face. He had started to blush, and you could see his freckles even better with the red on his face.  
“Uhh, yeah, we should do that,” He said, trying hard to look like he had been listening. He looked away quickly, staring off at a very interesting plant by the window. I shrugged off his weird behavior and continued packing up.


	7. Chapter 7

Armin was still sick the next day, and Eren gave me a call to tell me that him and Mikasa had been to visit him, and were now sick as well. Sasha and Connie were both also absent, and wouldn’t reply to any of my texts. Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt were part of the book club, which met at lunch, so it was just me sitting at an empty table, earbuds in, trying to look grumpy so no one would approach me. To be honest, I was a little scared without anyone else. Apparently someone did not get the memo that I wanted to be left alone, and I caught Marco, sitting at the very far end of the cafeteria with his friends, staring at me intensely. I flipped him a rude hand gesture, and he quickly turned away to talk to his friends. But a couple minutes later, I caught him staring again. I sighed, ripped my earbuds out, and walked over to him to confront him. He saw me coming, and I saw all the color drain from his face. He looked genuinely terrified.  
“What’s the big deal?” I asked him, standing right next to his table. I only recognized a few people, such as Mina Carolina, Samuel, and Nac. And of course, couple of the year, Hannah and Franz, were in the corner, being all gross and lovey dovey. Just looking at them made me want to puke. Marco looked to shocked to say anything. Did he think that I couldn’t see him from where I was sitting? Apparently so, his face gave away.  
“I… Um,” He tried, thinking hard. I could almost see the gears in his head spinning. His face lit up, and he looked like he had gotten a great idea. I lifted a single eyebrow, beckoning him to continue.  
“Um.. yeah. Right. You see, the reason I was staring at you was because… Because of this. Yeah, that’s the reason.” He reached into his backpack on the floor next to his chair, and pulled out a thick wad of papers. I took them, not impressed. Okay, maybe I was a little impressed. It was a big stack, all right? I looked at the first one, and realized that it was our science assessment.  
“I-I took the liberty to do it all at home, um, you know, in case you were sick, or something…” He said, the stopped abruptly, looking embarrassed. Then I realized what this meant; I had a free period today!  
“Wow, Marco, you’re, like, some sort of Freckled Jesus!” I said, grinning. He was also grinning wildly, but his hand was up over his mouth, like he didn’t want me to see, and like he just couldn’t stop smiling. I have to admit, it made me smile a little, too.  
Science was awesome. Marco and I did nothing for the whole hour but talk. It turned out he was actually pretty cool; we shared a lot of interests. He also played overwatch (we spent a lot of time arguing over who the best character was, and like, I’m not gonna say anything, but it’s, like, totally Soldier 76), and he went to the same preschool as I did. Also, he was in 9th period gym, which I also had. However, he had a different teacher, so they were currently doing a quarter of health, which I didn’t have to take (woo hoo), but he said they would be joining us later in the fall. I would be glad to have a friend there; Annie was always kicking my butt at basketball. Now, you should know, I’m not, like, Kobe Bryant, but I can be pretty good if I want too. Those are the key words. I don’t really enjoy playing basketball, so I don’t often play it. But, me and Annie were soldiers, and she had just declared war. Plus, all I had on my team were Reiner and Bertholdt, and Reiner was too possessive of the ball and just showed off, and Bert just sweated and strained, and his sweaty hands always dropped the ball.   
Marco, I found out, also lives on the street right next to my street. He said that his Mom drives him to school everyday because the Elementary school is really close, and his little sister goes there, and his Mom is one of the teachers. He invited me to come over to his house and study, and I jumped at the offer. My house is always empty, and it’s hard to do work when you're only human contact is your maid. My parents both run huge companies, so we own, like, a giant mansion. I have my own room, two bathrooms, and even a small kitchen all to myself on the second floor. Our house is big, gray, and lifeless. My parents are always working, so half the time they’re not even there, and when they are, they’re busy. No one knows it, but being all alone in a big house can be lonely. I often don’t even leave my room. So I relished the fact of going to study with Marco. Then maybe I could actually have human contact.   
When I was walking home from the bus stop, I tried to spot the house Marco had described to me. I couldn’t find anything that matched his description, but I carefully gripped the piece of paper on which he had written his home address and phone number on. I was excited, to say the least.   
When I walked through the giant front door, I stopped in the main foyer, looking up to see the arched ceiling rising up to twenty feet. The whole place was pristine, gorgeous. Not a single speck of dirt could be found anywhere. The clean grays and whites made the the whole place seem washed out and dark, even in the middle of the day. A lone succulent plant stood by the hallway, the muted blues and greens bringing contrast to the bright red pot. I sighed and casually threw my backpack along the wall, ignoring the five-foot-long rack of hooks that stretched across the whole entire wall, right at my arm level. I hurriedly kicked my shoes off and let them sit there in the middle of the perfect rug, and then walked past the empty teak shelves that sat there, only holding a pair of clean white converse that looked like they had never been worn, and I could actually easily believe that that was the case. When I entered the large hallway, I continued along the entire length, staring at the bland artwork that my parents enjoyed. I could smell something cooking, and it smelled really good. I entered the kitchen to find our maid, Christa, working hard at the stove. I stood in the hallway as she turned around, hearing me.  
“Why hello, Jean! Home from school already? Take a seat, would you? I’m sorry to say, but your parents called earlier today, they’re running awfully late, and it’s such a shame they might not make it home tonight. What is it, the fourth time this week? They say they’re working with a new business partner, should be exciting…” I sat down at the table, listening to her speak. Christa is the opposite of my parents. She’s funny, smart, bubbly, kind, and she actually listens to me and tries to help me with my problems. She treats me like an equal, and she taught me almost everything I know. She actually helps me with my homework, too. She’s like the mother I never had.  
“So then I said to her, ‘No, this works better,’ and then she said, ‘Well, I tried that, but it didn’t work….” She stopped for a moment, letting her story dangle. “You okay, Jean?” She asked me, looking worried.   
“Um, yeah, miss. Thank you,” I said, jolting out of my thoughts.  
“Well then, get yourself over here and cut these carrots!” She said enthusiastically, waving the knife around. I took it from her, and went to stand next to her, watching the way she cut them, with even, long strokes. I tried, but mine were too long and thin.  
“Um, excuse me, but, um, what are you making?” I asked her. The dish seemed to be a type of stew, with various spices and ingredients I had never heard of. It looked good, though.  
“Curry!” She exclaimed happily. I watched her put a generous helping of something orange and powder into the pot. It fell out with a puff, covering us both in turmeric, as I would later find it to be called. We were both coughing as the dust cleared. I looked down to see that my hand and tee-shirt were covered in orange powder. I let out a few well-placed swears that got me whacked with a spoon by Christa.   
“Oww!”I complained loudly, rubbing my neck. It didn’t really hurt very much, I was just hoping that she would feel guilty and let me get away with it.  
“No swearing in my house,” She said rather sternly, playfully shaking her finger.  
“Yeah, but jeez, Christa,” I said, unable to banish the grin from my face.  
“Get back to work on those carrots, Jean! This needs to be done by tonight!” She urged, returning her focus back to her potatoes.   
After about ten minutes had passed, and I had chopped more carrots than I thought could even fit in the pot, I remembered Marco.  
“Oh, Crap!” I shouted, clapping my hand to my face. How could I have forgotten about him? Christa gave me a worried look.  
“What is it, Jean?” She questioned, curious.   
“I promised my friend I’d go over to their house and study tonight!” I exclaimed loudly.  
“Well, there’s some time left, right” Come on, I’ll give you a ride in my car.”  
A few minutes later, I was folded into the back of Christa’s tiny beige car. It was pretty old, and I was cramped. I have really long legs! Besides, I was 5”9, and Christa was, what, 5 foot nothing? She really is tiny. Tiny form, tiny head, tiny feet and hands, she looks even younger than me. She really isn’t much older than me, anyway. She graduated from University a few years ago. I remember when Mom and Dad had first hired her, back when she was still in school. She would always bring her homework while she worked, and I remember how stressful final’s week was for her. She had a degree in visual arts, but she had never really used it, for what I could tell. She had also been renting out our basement, but she now lived with her mysterious Fiance.  
Christa pulled up infront of Marco’s house, checking the address one more time. She looked kind of confused, like she didn't know if it was the right one, or if she had been there before.  
“We’re here!” She said happily, turning to face me, her big, bright blue eyes flashing. I was thoroughly stuck back here, and it took several tries to get me out. When I was out, she started walking to the house without me, letting her long blonde hair out of the tight bun where it had been on top of her head. I have to admit, she is really cute. When we got to the door, I nervously rang it. She looked way too confident standing there, and I wondered what she could have in common with Marco’s family.   
“Well, gotta scram,” She said with a smile, and off she was. I heard her car start, but my attention was on the door. THe sounds inside it were loud, and I could hear people inside. I heard someone fumble for the door, and then, standing right there, stood Marco.


	8. Chapter 8

I never thought I would tell anyone this, but except for Christa, Marco is the nicest person I know.  
He is always happy. He just radiates it, and it’s kind of infectious. He’s quiet, and only speaks when talked too, or when he’s being polite. He listens carefully, and thinks before he talks. But when he does speak, he always says just the right thing. And he’s nice to everyone. Older people, younger people, teachers, students, anyone. And he just cares. About everything. In fact, he cares too much. He cares about other people, he cares about their futures, and their pasts. If I cared that much, I don’t think I could do anything, because I would worry too much. I would worry about people who are sick, I would worry that people might get sick, I would worry about things happening, and I would worry about things not happening. I would care too much, that I wouldn’t care enough for myself. So people like Marco, people who are better than people like us, sometimes people don’t realize it, because they put up a disguise. But sometimes, a caring move could really be a tortured scream for help.  
I stood there momentarily in shock, as Marco opened the door. He also looked shocked. But it wasn’t just Marco at the door. About three toddlers were clinging desperately to him, a little girl who was sleepily being held at Marco’s side, an older boy who was clinging to his back, who was currently pulling at his hair, and another boy who would not let go of Marco’s leg. He was like a jungle gym, and through the bright lights behind him, I could make out several more. It was adorable, seeing all those kids. They all had freckles, and the same chocolate hair. The little girl had thick curls atop her head, but her skin was a bit darker. Her locks were held back by a bright pink butterfly clip that perfectly matched her pink sweater. Her woolen green skirt had little bows all over it, and I could see tiny feet with black dress shoes and white socks with bows at the top. She was sitting on Marco’s arms as he cradled her on his hip, and she was leaning her tiny head on his chest. Pudgy arms rubbed her chocolate eyes with thick black lashes, and her cheeks were dusted with freckles. The two little boys looked like twins, with slightly curly hair like Marco’s and Disney band aids covering their faces, arms and legs. They were also slightly chubby like the girl, and they both had wide, toothy, mischievous grins, and I could spot several teeth missing. Marco was like a tall, thin tree for them, and It was so cute seeing him and his siblings.  
“Jean!” He exclaimed happily, recognizing me.  
“You’ve got, um something, like right there, clinging to your leg,” I said, pointing. Marco looked down and shaked his leg gently, but the boy frowned and clung tighter.  
“Yeah, and um, that’s quite a nice shade of orange you’ve got there, buddy,” He mentioned, inclining his head towards me. I scowled at him, running my hand through my short hair. It came back orange.  
“Marco! Is that your friend at the door?” A loud voice came from inside.  
“Yeah, Mom! Be right there!” He shouted back over his shoulder. He stepped aside to let me through the door. I squeezed past him, trying my best to avoid the obstacles clinging to him. When I was in the living room, I spotted a total of about seven kids in all. There was a girl who looked a few years older than Marco, who was sitting on the couch, reading a magazine.. Her thin, straight black hair was falling into her face, where fewer freckles lay. Another girl, who looked about thirteen, was sitting on the couch next to her sister, playing with a large tabby. Her freckles were darker, but not as many could be found, unlike Marco’s. She had, like, half the amount.  
Marco closed the door and walked to the couch, setting the little girl down. She made a noise of protest, and reached her chubby arms out to attach herself to him again. He sat down next to her, defeated. I took a seat on the couch next to Marco, trying to put as much distance between the child and myself. I don’t get along well with kids.  
I took out my books from my backpack and laid it on the low wooden table. The place was bright, with yellow, orange and red walls, a colorful tapestry hung on the wall right next to the door, and the mismatched couches that ringed the room were in all different patterns and shades of red. Many lamps could be found, emitting a yellow, warm light. A picture behind me showed a canyon with a sunset behind it. The room was small, and it’s crowded aura gave it no favors, but it was nice. It was also a little messy; kid’s toys and stuffed animals could be seen, and an unfinished children’s puzzle could be seen on the intricate rug. A large, rugged vase stood in the corner.  
“Who are you?” Asked one of the little boys, the one on Marco’s back.  
“I, um, I’m a friend of Marco’s, from, um, school.” I replied, unsure of what to do around the small child. I looked at Marco after I said it, and he gave me a little nod, and a small, reassuring smile. That made me feel a lot better.  
“Are you twins?” I asked the boys awkwardly.  
“No! We’re triplets!” The one on the leg said. Another small head peeked around the corner, as if called. He had the same cheeky grin, but his arm was in a bright blue cast. His brothers spotted him and ran towards him, detaching themselves from Marco.  
“So, uh, we should start now,” Marco suggested, unsure. I nodded in agreement, reaching into my backpack and taking out my calculus homework. We had the same class, just not at the same time. Calculus was really hard, and I just usually copied off Armin’s work. I did take pretty good notes, so I would be fine. As I looked at Marco”s notes, I noticed that his were, like, Armin quality notes. He had really good, neat, easy to read handwriting that you could tell had taken a long time. I looked down at my notes and realized with shock that my social studies notes were mixed in with my regular notes. I hoped he would’nt notice.  
“Ok, so, apparently in your calculus class, you guys are currently studying the georgaphy of the Alps,” Marco said, holding up my notebook with a raised eyebrow.  
Ok, scratch that thought.  
“Oh, yeah, my classes are right next to each other, so I like to keep them in the same notebook,” I improvised.  
“This notebook says, ‘4th period LA, Property of MIkasa Ackermann’ on the front.”  
Oh, right. I had forgotten about that. I had stolen her notebook at the beginning of the school year, and then just copied random notes from Armin. I would normally not really care about what people thought about my cheating habits, but for some reason, I didn’t want Marco to think of me as a bad person.  
“Give that back.” I said, taking it from him and reading the cover. Huh. He was right. I chose to ignore it, hoping he would forget.  
“We should, uh, get started now,” I said, reaching over his arms to pick up my worksheet.  
“So, what do you think number five is?” asked Marco, about ten minutes in.  
“I got A, but I could be wrong.”  
“Of course you’re wrong, Jean! It’s ment to be either F or D! It’s obviusluy the wrong one!”  
“No, it’s not! See, you do this, and then you carry the number there!”  
“No, see, you’re supposed to do long division first, and then add the 10!”  
I reached over his legs to see his paper. He circled a few things. And I realised he was right.  
“Oh, yeah. You’re right. I think that now it’s D.”  
“No, it’s denfintly F,”  
“No, if it were F, the angle would have been three degrees south,”  
“I don’t agree with that, I think you’re wrong,” Marco finished. He got up, walked to the kitchen where his mom was making dinner, and I could hear rustling and bickering in a different languige. I couldn’t tell if it was Spanish or Italian, but I wasn’t about to ask.  
A few minutes later, he came back out carrying a protractor and a calculator. He set to work, double-checking both of our work, and he finished looking disapointed.  
“I’m right!” I exclamied happily, almost jumping for joy. I procedeed to rub this in Marco’s face for a few more seconds, but he just sat there, looking suspicially smug.  
“Well, at least I’m not the one who’s still covered in orange powder,” He countered. I frowned at him, subconciusly running my hands through my hair. Again, it came back orange.  
“Well, at least I don’t have, like, twenty siblings,” Marco looked at me, his mouth open, looking mock offended.  
“Well, at least I get along with kids,” He shot back.  
“Well, at least I get to have PE all year long,”  
“Well, I didn’t cry when I watched Toy Story 2, and that’s not even the sad one!”  
“Hey, at least I have a girlfriend,” I said prouldly.  
“You do?” Questioned Marco, one eybebrow raised.   
“W-Well, not yet, anyway,” I stammered.  
“Well, at least I don’t look like a horse,” Marco stated harshly.  
I physically recoiled, a look of extreme disgust quickly taking over my features. Did he really? Someone tell me if he really did that, because I can’t belive it. I mean, what di he just say to me?  
“Escuse me, but what did you say? Could you please repeat that for me?” I said, fakeing curiosity, and slowing down my words at the end, putting as much emphasis as I could on those last syllables. Some people say that I can be too passive aggressive, but I was going to make him feel so much shame.  
“Why, can your tiny ears not hear me through that mane, Twilight Sparkle? Oh right, I forgot, horses tend to buck when they get angry.”  
Ok, I was done here. No one is going to call me a horse, unless, you know, it’s Mikasa, and it will make her go out with me, but Marco? No, no, no, you listen, sweetheart. If you’re being too nasty, you’ll attract flies.  
“Um, could you please take that back, like, right now, because I’m busy babysitting, because that’s something a little kid would say. Grow up, you.”  
“Yeah, says the one who’s never been on a date before,”  
“Like you have,”  
Marco scrunched up his nose. “Tochee,” he repiled. I smiled, Triumphant.   
We really didn’t end up getting that much work done that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would just like to mention that this summer (2019), I actually spent a week with a family friend who had a family with 7 people (5 kids). Knowing what I know now, I could never feasibly imagine a family with more than 6 kids functioning.


	9. Chapter 9

My friendship with Marco really snowballed over the past few weeks. I had never met someone like him before, and we got along great. Well, from our perspective. My friends liked him pretty well, but his friends hated me, which made him sad, because he had been friends with them for a long toime now, and he was attatched to them. But he hung out with us a lunch, but we were better friends with each other then they were with us.   
It was early winter, and we expected it to be pretty warm, after all, this is Texas. However, December came with a suprise… Three whole inches of snow.  
I didn’t remember the last time there had been a snow day, but I was frickin ready for that snow. Everything had been closed, school was out for a week, and Christa had gone back home to her fiance. My parents were still not home but had promised me that they would been home for the weekend. I was exited, and knew exactly who I wanted to come over on this new winter day.  
Marco picked up on the second ring, and I heard him gleefully scream into the speaker, “It’s snowing! It’s snowing!” and I had shouted back the same thing. He agreed to come over, and soon we were in the foyer, putting on jackets and boots. I remembered that this was his first time at my house. We didn’t really have any snowboots, so we took plastic bags and tied them around our regular boots, and we put on several layers, including some jackets that were way to small for us.  
“Your house is really nice, Jean,” Marco told me happily.  
“Yeah, I guess so,” I answered in an unconvinced tone of voice. I was busy tying Marco’s bags to his boots. I had taken my gloves off to do so, which were really just some satin elbow-length gloves that I had found deep inside the depths of my Mom’s walk-in closet. I felt kind of guilty using the., but they looked like they hadn’t been worn since my mom was in Highschool. Marco was wearing a pair of his dad’s gardening gloves, and dirt still stained them. They were a much better substitute than mine, but my parents didn’t have anything like that, and I didn’t want to call Christa and her day off to ask her.  
As we walked outside, we saw that literally everyone on the street-parents and kids both- were out enjoying the rare weather. The sky was clogged with clouds, but the whiteness made everything look bright. There was only a few inches outside, but it was amazing to look at. I hadn’t felt that excited in a long time. It was like being a kid again.  
“What do you want to build first?” Asked Marco, his face already turning red from the sudden cold.   
“Uh, I don’t know, maybe a snowman?” I said, unsure. Pretty much anything we made would be fine with me.  
“Come on, Jean. That’s to cliche! We need to do something more exciting, like maybe a…” he trailed off, undecided.  
“What about a snow fort?” I asked passively.  
“Brilliant idea, Jean!” Marco said, turning towards me with joy on his face. The expression made me happy, too.  
We immediately set to work. We decided to make some sort of igloo thing in my front yard that would be big enough for both of us. It would be hard, but we were determined to do it. We started collecting snow from all around the yard and depositing it in a big pile in the middle we would hollow out later. To get enough snow, we ended up taking all the snow from the backyard as well. When we had a pretty decent sized pile, we used some of Marco’s dad’s gardening spades to dig it out. While Marco dug, it was my job to take the snow he threw out and use it to add another layer to the outside. We worked like that for a few hours (This is the part where the author gets too lazy to write too much) until we switched places. It was tiring, lying on your back and chipping away at snow above you while trying to keep it away from your face. We ended up getting pool goggles and a scarf to protect the digger. All in all, it was worth it, because as late afternoon rolled around, we had created a roundish lump in the middle of my front yard that could just barely hold a person in a half. We managed to squeeze inside, but it was rather awkward, and legs and elbows were everywhere. But Marco and I were so close that I didn’t mind it much. And at the end of the day, when we were shivering together under a roof that kept shedding cold drops of now ice down our shirts, that it was all worth it.


	10. Chapter 10

I think there is no doubt that Marco and I are closer than anyone else I have ever met. One night, while we were walking home together (His sister had started doing soccer after school, so he had to walk) we noticed something strange. We were just walking casually by one of the scenic overlooks that bordered our school, which happens to be on a large hill, when we saw a truck filled with teenagers sitting there. They weren’t from our school, and I had never seen them before.   
“Hey, do you know those guys?” I asked Marco quietly. He shook his head quickly. Why were they there? We stopped to observe them a bit longer. From around the corner, we heard a siren coming up the hill. We didn't know it at the time, but the cops had just been tipped off that a group of teens had recently been caught breaking and entering into someone’s house not a few miles away from where we were. However, when the po-po arrived and the truck was nowhere in sight, having bolted a few minutes earlier, we knew we looked bad, and so, to escape punishment, we ran. Probs not the smartest choice, but we were scared. We did manage to figure out then that Connie was right.  
We heard the police talking behind us. They had most definitely spotted us, and some were giving chase. We ran through bushes, trees, pretty much anywhere covered, I had never run so hard or fast in my entire life. I don’t really remember anything, except fear and the feeling of my heart hammering so hard in my chest that I couldn’t hear anything. After some period of time, Marco and I reached a large hedge that bordered the park. It was very thick, and we lay low to the ground, put our hands over our heads, and waited, not daring to breathe. We heard some people walking around in front of us and the sound of several radios. They seemed to be convinced after about ten minutes that we had fled towards town, and we didn’t hear them after that. However, we waited for what seemed like hours, not daring to move and inch. My head was still pressed hard to the ground, thorns and branches digging into every exposed piece of skin. Leaves were in my hair, and I didn’t want to think about all the creatures living here. I stirred first, mainly because I couldn’t ignore the growling of my stomach, I desperately had to pee, and almost all my limbs were asleep. It had grown dark, and we could hardly see anything from the long shadows the trees cast. I lifted my head off the ground, and shifted into a crouching position, letting out small grunts. My throat was like sandpaper, and I swallowed for the first time since we had been here. Marco was behind me, and he turned his head to face me, and also pulled himself, sitting on his legs.  
“Jean?” He asked quietly, his voice weak and scratching. He also looked in shock.  
“Y-yeah?” I asked, my voice cracking. I swallowed hard and tried again. “D-do you think they’re gone?” His only reply was a small nod. I started to massage my aching arm to try to regain some sense of feeling, while he turned around to check on our backpacks. I could finally think clearly, now that the initial panic had decreased, and it occurred to me that Christa was most likely so worried that she had called the police. Which I then realised was so ironic I almost laughed. Almost.  
“Hey! Jean! Come look at this!” Came an eager voice. I turned around, and Marco had pushed aside the branches behind us to see what was there. I turned and moved over to him, and what I saw took my breath away.  
This whole forest was seated on a large hill, that wasn’t that high, maybe about 100 feet high, but the top was flat and wide, almost like a plateau. It was almost funny, seeing something like that in Texas. It rained a lot during the fall, so the plants kept alive, also people watered them, so it was pretty green. Our hedge was apparently right on the edge of the slope that led down the hill. If we had tried to run past it, we would probably have rolled down the steep edge and gotten really hurt. If we also had been a foot closer, we probably would've been at the bottom by now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! I hope you enjoyed it. It is unfinished as I ran out of time before turning it in. I got a 95/100 on this, which I think is incredible considering I hadn't read any of the requirements and decided to just wing it. Remember, if you liked it, I would be happy to start another series where I continue with this story in order to compare my writing now with my younger self.


End file.
